I am a huge fan of surfing the web and I am always on the lookout for new favorites. I hit the jackpot recently while on Born Again Pit Bull Rescue site. In addition to having some amazing dogs up for adoption, I found a link to the blog, Yellow Brick Home. Yellow Brick Home is a virtual treasure trove of DIYs, home decorating, life and travel tales. In addition to two cats, Kim and Scott have an awesome dog, Jack. I love these sweet family photos from Gooch Too Photography.

From Kim: “Jack is a rescue. We pulled him straight from the Animal Care and Control on Chicago’s south side; or, rather, should I say he pulled us? He was a sad, red-eyed pup that had given up. He sat at the back of his cage as we made the rounds and kept “picking” other dogs to play with – none of whom wanted to play with us (they were more interested in the balls we were throwing for fetch). Finally, we took that skinny-bodied, quiet yet hope-filled pup out for a test walk. Did he walk? No. Did he run after balls? No. Instead, he tripped me up under my own feet and threw himself into Scott’s arms. He licked our faces until we were raw, and we filled out the paperwork to bring him home that day.

For fun, we did one of those inexpensive DNA tests (the over-the-counter kind you find at PetSmart), and we found that while he was almost all Staffordshire, he had a small percentage of Irish Setter in him. Jack was diagnosed with a severe heart murmur in his first vet visit, and we were told that one of two things would happen: One, he could live a short life of 2 or less years, or two, he would live a long, happy life. His diagnosis was unclear, but we were told to love him “twice as much,” just in case we had a short time with him. We took that challenge, and we’re happy to say that he is now a spunky, over-lover of a 4.5 year old!

As if these photos aren’t enough, check out these amazing paintings!

The icing on the cake is that Kim is an artist specializing in animal portraits. That’s right, they run The Pet Shop which offers custom pet portraits and super affordable animal prints.

Although it seems that Kim and Scott could not be more awesome, they somehow are. They donate 10% of proceeds from each purchase from the Pet Shop to a non profit animal rescue. From now until March 31 all sales will support Born Again Pit Bull Rescue. Just throwing this hint out: I’m pretty sure most people would think a custom painting of her pet would be a wonderful Valentine’s Day present.

About Gooch Too Photography: Based in Chicago, IL, Renee Gooch specializes newborn, children and family portraiture. Her lighthearted style captures candid moments that reflect the her clients’ joy, personality and love. You can see more of her work on her blog.